Babar Azam: “It was because of him that the pressure didn’t affect us so much and I continued my innings”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Pakistan batsman Babar Azam has revealed that Haris Sohail “released the pressure” on him and the team during their World Cup clash against New Zealand on Wednesday.

Haris came in when Pakistan were 110/3 in the 25th over in their chase of 238 to win and scored a 76-ball 68, which included five boundaries and two sixes.

As for Azam, he guided Pakistan to a six-wicket win with his unbeaten knock of 101, which came off 127 balls and included 11 boundaries.

Pakistan’s win over New Zealand not only kept their hopes of qualifying for the World Cup semi-finals alive, but also handed New Zealand their first loss in the tournament.

“When [Haris] came there was some pressure because the ball was turning but he released the pressure,” Azam was quoted as saying by PakPassion. “It was because of him that the pressure didn’t affect us so much and I continued my innings.

“He was hitting boundaries whenever he wanted to. Our plan was to go [at] a run rate of six to seven, if we faced a couple of dots then we [could] make up for it in the next over.”

Pakistan’s next World Cup match will be against Afghanistan at Headingley on Saturday.

If they beat Afghanistan, Pakistan will then have to take down Bangladesh at Lord’s on July 5 in order to have any chance of reaching the last four.

However, even if they defeat Afghanistan and Bangladesh, it might not be enough as they will have to rely on the results of other matches.

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